College football: Gillette Stadium game will be thrill for Hudson’s Duggan

Playing at the Big House earlier this season was a lifelong dream come true for UMass senior fullback Scott Duggan of Hudson. Tomorrow’s game against New Hampshire at Gillette Stadium, home of the three-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, also will likely rank right up there among Duggan’s most memorable moments.

“It will definitely be close,” Duggan said. “Being a Massachusetts kid, I grew up a Patriots fan, and getting to play in my pro team’s stadium is definitely special, and I have a lot of family and friends coming down, so that means a lot.”

The Colonial Athletic Association matchup between No. 12 UMass and No. 10 UNH is being billed as the “Colonial Clash,” and it will be the first college football game at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. The game is the first in a two-year, home-and-home series for the schools to be played at Gillette Stadium. UNH is the home team this year, UMass next year.

Gillette Stadium has hosted Eastern Mass. high school Super Bowl games since 2007. The hope is to have an annual college game at the venue as well.

Tickets are $25, parking is free, and lots open for tailgating at 12:30.

The last time UMass played at an NFL stadium was Nov. 2, 1991, when the Minutemen beat Northeastern before a crowd of 4,620 at the old Foxboro Stadium.

“This is going to be a big game,” said UMass captain Emil Igwenagu, the former Holy Name standout. “Any kid growing up around here, the Patriots are the team they look at. To play in their stadium, it’s going to be a good thing.”

The Minutemen will conduct a walk-through and take part in a media session at Gillette Stadium this afternoon. Other than that, preparations for the game against the rival Wildcats have been business as usual.

“I think the walk-around will get all the nerves settled and help us get used to the environment,” Duggan said. “Once the whistle blows, it’s still a football game, and all my focus will be on that.”

Duggan, who graduated from Hudson High and prepped at Worcester Academy, was 3 years old when he started cheering for the University of Michigan, so you can imagine the thrill of playing at Michigan Stadium last month. UMass took it to the Wolverines before falling, 42-37.

There were extended pregame festivities in Ann Arbor that day, and Duggan said the teams stood on the field for about 10 minutes waiting for kickoff.

“That whole time I was pretty much soaking up the crowd (110,187) and atmosphere,” he said, “but again, once the whistle blew, my focus was on the field, not on the crowd.”

Duggan’s blocked punt in the fourth quarter led to a UMass touchdown.

“Just getting to play in a stadium as well known as that and as big as that is definitely something I’ll cherish for a long time,” Duggan said.

Duggan transferred to UMass after a semester at Southern Connecticut State. He played in eight games last year as a backup linebacker before moving to fullback this season. He has made his mark at UMass on special teams.

“He’s the kind of kid you want in your program,” UMass coach Kevin Morris said. “Just a hard-nosed kid — ‘Coach, what do you need me to do today? I’ll get it done.’ He’s done an excellent job at fullback, continues to be an excellent special teams player, and we’re very excited about his progress.”

Hudson High coach Dan McAnespie is taking a busload of Hudson players to see Duggan play tomorrow after the Hawks play Oakmont at noon.

Past winners of the Bill Knight Award, given annually to the MVP of the UMass-UNH game, will serve as honorary captains. Dave Palazzi of Leominster will represent UMass. Mike Foley of Worcester and David Ball, who attended Worcester Academy, are among those representing UNH.

Stopping Colgate junior tailback Nate Eachus probably isn’t going to happen, “but what you need to do,” Holy Cross coach Tom Gilmore said, “is limit his production, and you do that by playing good, disciplined defense, winning the physical battle up front and making sure you’re staying focused throughout the game.”

That will be HC’s challenge tomorrow when it travels to Hamilton, N.Y., to take on Eachus and the Raiders and plays its first of four straight Patriot League games to finish the season.

Eachus is coming off a Patriot League-record 291-yard rushing performance in last week’s blowout win over Cornell. Eachus averaged 11.6 yards per carry and had two runs of more than 60 yards. Eachus, who already topped 1,000 rushing yards this season, leads the Football Championship Subdivision in rushing yards per game (169.3).

“He’s obviously having a great year,” Colgate coach Dick Biddle said. “He still has a lot of football to be played, and he has a chance to be a real special back for us.”

Holy Cross ranks near the bottom of the league in rushing defense. Last week, Dartmouth running back Nick Schwieger (169 rushing yards) accounted for more than 60 percent of the Big Green’s total offense (277 yards).

“Eachus is very good, and he’s certainly the best we’ve faced this year,” Gilmore said. “He and the quarterback (Greg Sullivan) fit very well into the scheme and they do enough to keep you honest with their pass game.”

Colgate (4-2) was the preseason pick to win the Patriot League. The Raiders have won three straight, outscoring their last three foes, 122-16.

Holy Cross (3-4), the defending PL champion, won back-to-back games over Fordham and Brown before last week’s disappointing defeat at Dartmouth. The Crusaders turned the ball over six times.

“We had opportunities, and we didn’t get it done,” Gilmore said. “We were definitely pressing and trying to do things we didn’t need to do, and that resulted in a couple of the turnovers. It was a game we could have and should have won, and we didn’t. When that happens, you’re really frustrated.”

The Crusaders will be without sophomore running back Eddie Houghton, who is sidelined with an ankle injury. Gilmore is hoping junior Matt Bellomo can back up sophomore starter Sam Auffant. Bellomo was recovering from a preseason hamstring injury when he injured his ankle, and he’s had just one carry for 4 yards this season. Depending on Bellomo’s status, junior Francis Camara and freshman Reggie Woods could see playing time.

“Those guys are just going to have to get more reps and we’ll see how it goes from there,” Gilmore said.

Assumption senior wide receiver David Canney of Templeton has a Northeast-10 Conference high 859 receiving yards, and there’s a pretty good chance he will top the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career during tomorrow’s Homecoming game against St. Anselm.

Canney’s 77 receptions lead all of Division 2. He’s had five games with double-digit catches and five games with 100 or more receiving yards.

Assumption, ranked No. 8 in this week’s Lambert Poll, will try to bounce back from last week’s loss at Merrimack.

Dr. Tony Strickland of UCLA and the Sports Concussion Institute will be this week’s special guest on the Liberty League Football Internet talk show “In the HuddLLE.”

Dr. Strickland will be discussing sports concussions beginning at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. It is obviously a very timely topic with all the talk about helmet-to-helmet hits in the NFL this week.

Check out the show at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ith.

Anna Maria’s Robert Small and Kevin McCoy were honored by the ECFC for their performances in last week’s game against Castleton State. Small was named Rookie of the Week after rushing for a program-record 256 yards and two touchdowns. McCoy, who returned a kickoff 69 yards for a TD, was named Special Teams Player of the Week. … Bentley quarterback Bryant Johnson of Hopedale was named Northeast-10 Conference Offensive Player of the Week. In the Falcons’ win over Southern Connecticut, Johnson threw for 277 yards and two TDs and also rushed for the go-ahead score in the closing minutes. He had an NE-10 record 15 straight completions during one stretch. … Columbia freshman placekicker Luke Eddy of Shirley was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Eddy, a Worcester Academy graduate, made two field goals, including a season-long 48-yarder, in a loss to Penn.